The Many Loves of Frau Minnie, the Lady of Courtly Love

Introduction to Love: Casper

You kneel. Your hands tremble

with love’s offerings. You know

nothing of love. Let me

instruct you in the many

ways.

Window Dressing: Tom

He peeped.

I poked his eye. I cast

by miracle of levitation

a heart-stained window

to follow him, always.

Purity: Thierry

Sex

was like a fast with him.

I hungered often. I filleted

his heart. Braised it in butter

and brine. Still I hungered.  

Carpentry: Joseph

A cruel 

look upon the saw.

I cut his chest then carved

his heart. I rendered his pain

as I rendered my joy.

Hot Cockles: Eleanor

Her hand

beneath my dress. My thigh

trembled. She opened her chest.

I clenched her heart. It crumbled.

A worm crawled out. I saved it.

Cupidity: Renard

He pulled

his arrow. Its poison dripped.

I placed a pear into the puddle.

I fed him. He suffocated

after vomiting his heart.

Broken Wind: Roland

He is

the only professional flatulist

to flatus too loud and poop

his runny heart. I plopped

it in my chamber pot.

Chiromancy: Guido

I read

his secret. His bollocks dropped.

I plucked them, pushed them up

his wound. They fertilized

his heart. He was stillborn.

Shoes: Donald and Marie

Twins

once approached. Two

for one. They fought for me

and killed. When it’s cold,

their hearts warm my feet.

Quill Holder: Gottfried

He wrote

a lay with me as dame

and he as duke. I scratched

a heart into his brow.

He died of my critique.

Crutch: Jack

That clutz,

unaware, dragged,

like a vein from his heart,

a grapevine from the foot

he twisted in my vineyards.          

Bear Trap: Giles

His heart

caught on rusty teeth.

I snipped it. I coveted it

into my sack. I stashed them

with his bollocks and bloom.

Sword: Simon

I asked,

“In your struggle to be

free, did you lose your way?”

I then withdrew, like Arthur,

the blade from the stone heart.

Spear: Longinus

I melted

his earwax and molded the tinniest

crucifixion, complete

with Romans, nails, and lances.

They display within his heart.

Pressoir Mystique: Pierre

Jesus

Christ. His was the darkest

wine but bright. I pressed

his heart for every drop.

Ground his bones and raised His bread.

Crack: Guillaume

My kiss

cured all his woes. His heart

split by joy. His vacant

interiority

revealed between his heart’s teeth.

Knife: Alonso

He asked,

“How long will I, beyond

this soon expired heart,

persist?” I flipped his hourglass

and lopped the bottom bulb.    

Fire: Lucius

Since

the night I anguished, “No,”

none have felt the pain

or feared of love’s revenge

as when I heaved him in the hearth.

Omega: Lucy

I branded

her sorrowed heart and augered

her aorta. I stuffed it.

with mandrake. I pinched a sniff

and entered her afterlife.

The Pinecone: Casper’s Father

We swived.

His heart stopped. I plucked it.

Sliced your chest, swapped

the hearts, and strung and hung his

from your rib and blew.

Love in Review: Casper

You think your love is true

and ceaseless, but it’s still

unlearned. You tremble. Rise.

Feel my love as I decease

your heart.